To add to my original post...and I'm sure I'll add everything I can find that's relevant...this is what I can find in Ontario's Highway Traffic Act regarding bicycles that are powered by anything other than a human.
Quote:
“motor assisted bicycle” means a bicycle,
(a) that is fitted with pedals that are operable at all times to propel the bicycle,
(b) that weighs not more than fifty-five kilograms,
( c) that has no hand or foot operated clutch or gearbox driven by the motor and transferring power to the driven wheel,
(d) that has an attached motor driven by electricity or having a piston displacement of not more than fifty cubic centimetres, and
(e) that does not have sufficient power to enable the bicycle to attain a speed greater than 50 kilometres per hour on level ground within a distance of 2 kilometres from a standing start; (“cyclomoteur”)
“motor vehicle” includes an automobile, motorcycle, motor assisted bicycle unless otherwise indicated in this Act, and any other vehicle propelled or driven otherwise than by muscular power, but does not include a street car, or other motor vehicles running only upon rails, or a motorized snow vehicle, traction engine, farm tractor, self-propelled implement of husbandry or road-building machine within the meaning of this Act; (“véhicule automobile”)
“motorcycle” means a self-propelled vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the driver and designed to travel on not more than three wheels in contact with the ground, and includes a motor scooter, but does not include a motor assisted bicycle; (“motocyclette”)
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Ok so playing armchair lawyer here I'm going to say that a normal pedal bicycle equipped with any of the 49cc, or even an 80cc, engine kits that are available could not be considered a motor assisted bicycle as per the HTA's definition of such. Where I think one would be screwed is the part where it says
"and any other vehicle propelled or driven otherwise than by muscular power" as this pretty much covers everything including wind power. Going back to the story about the people in a pedal car in downtown Toronto ..lol.. it was propelled and driven by muscular power and that's why the police where up in arms about what to do. So ok they pretty much got us cornered on the not powered by muscles part BUT lets just say that a police officer stops you and starts dishing out the tickets. What are his or her options with regards to the available infractions as per the HTA?
The big bad one would be operating a
"motor vehicle" without insurance and yes it's bad... $5000 to $25,000 bad for the first conviction and $10,000 to $50,000 bad for the second! Now one defense for a no insurance charge, and the pocket bikers have successfully used this, is that you can't get insurance for your creation and given that a no insurance charge implies you could have but didn't I can see how a "not available to you" argument would be successful.
Other things they might ticket you for might be no number plates, no registration etc etc. Fines for those HTA infractions are small compared to the no insurance deal but again motor vehicle registration and number plates are not readily available to you because the government does not have a classification for your thing. So again likely in the eyes of a judge, if argued correctly and politely, it's unreasonable to hold you accountable for not having something that's not readily available to you in the first place.
toytime you mentioned that they took your bike and fined you 500... Was the fine an operate a motor vehicle while suspended fine? Either way that all must have really sucked, maybe consider an ebike to bomb around on because in Ontario right now even suspended drivers can operate one.